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Appendix: Data Collection and Subjects Data were collected following ethnographic and cultural studies techniques for conducting qualitative interviews. Subjects were chosen via the "snowball" method. Data Collection A top priority was given to preserving to the greatest extent possible the naturalness of the viewing and discussion settings (Marshall and Rossman 1989). With one unhappy exception of an interview that took place in my office, as explained below, interviews took place in the homes or dormitories of participants (Liebes and Katz 1989/91). When possible, the typical viewing situation was used, ranging from a small-group or family setting to a crowded campus lounge (on campuses, the Wednesday airings sometimes became "events" as large groups convened to watch vociferously). Two individual interviews also were conducted (Radway 1984/91). Because the girls and young women already discussed the show with a small group of friends, I sought out pre-existing groups (Frazer, 1987; Brown, 1994), ranging in size from two to four. I culled interview subjects through a variety of friends living in a mix of neighborhoods as well as through four distinct milieus to which I have access (Rider University , a mid-sized private New Jersey college where I teach; Princeton University, an Ivy League school in the town where I live; a mid-sized Protestant church on the NewJersey Shore attended by a mix of classes, where I work as music director; and a newsroom of educated writers and editors, where I work part time as a copy editor). I expanded each resource using the "snowball" method. Age was generally consistent within groups, although the configurations of pre-existing groups of watchers was maintained regardless of age, so that in one group I had a ninth- 244 Appendix grader, tenth-grader, and eleventh-grader, and in two groups I had two junior-high-aged friends joined by a sister in high school. Eleven of the interviews (61 percent) included watching an episode with the subjects (Liebes and Katz, 1989/91). The number of times I could do this was constrained by the number of Wednesdays that occurred during two months of data-gathering, although in four cases the subjects agreed to delay their viewing of the episode and watch a videotaped version with me later in the week. I was frustratingly hampered by heavy snowfalls that inevitably occurred on Wednesday nights that February and March, causing three Wednesdays of last-minute cancellations by viewers. Moreover, I found there was a drawback to real-time viewing, which was that most viewers went on to watch Melrose Place, so my time to talk after the show was limited. Nevertheless, the data I collected are overwhelming in their richness and provide a more than ample base for analysis. Apart from viewing, in-depth interviewing techniques were used (McCracken 1988). I also drew on my many years of experience working with girls and young women in attempting to handle the interviews with care and sensitivity. Individual interviews and small group discussions generated talk about events, actors, and characters on the show as well as about events and identity issues in the viewers' lives (Radway 1984/91; Press 1991). Discussion was generated using (1) a prepared list of questions dealing with the show and with the girls' and young women's experience of themselves (see Figure A) and (2) several clips identified by me as potentially provocative. Because these clips generated talk that was in large measure redundant, I chose as representative talk about a scene identified by viewers as interesting in the first viewing session, and then excerpted by me for future use in interviews: a confrontation over drug addiction in which the user's stepsister and girlfriend move out. Interviews were audiotaped (Marshall and Rossman, 1989). Some talk about another scene memorable because of a bright red hat Donna is wearing also is explored in Chapter 5. For maximum clarity, an individual lapel microphone was given to each viewer, and the signals were fed through a mixer. The tapes were transcribed, with these transcriptions serving as the primary data for analysis (Radway 1984/91; Press 1991). As was mentioned in the introduction, I was not concerned with "getting to know" the girls or penetrating their inner psychological structures. Rather, I was concerned with the ways they discursively constructed identities for me and for each other. I wanted to collect as many different types of talk as possible within time and resource constraints . Therefore, some of the subjects were girls who know me as...

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